THE gift

Thank you to all of my wonderful Facebook friends for the early birthday wishes, and for actually playing along with me by guessing my birthday gift! I’m pretty much a 7-year-old when it comes to birthdays. I love celebrating birthdays, whether it’s for my kids, friends, random people or myself! You were all so nice to even care what I got for my gift.

So, anyone who guessed DID guess correctly. You all know me so well to know that I would be most excited about a gift related to photography!

The last few years, I was mainly interested in portrait photography so I was totally fine with the two lenses that I have. Both are perfect for shooting family photos. These past few months, I’ve become so interested in shooting wildlife or the sky or the moon that I’ve been wishing I had a lens with a longer focal length. Because lenses are so expensive, I haven’t let myself really think about it until this past week. We found some older models in a price range we could consider, and the hubs jumped on it and got the lens for me.

I was hoping to post some really amazing shots that I had taken with the lens, but I didn’t realize what a learning curve it would be. I didn’t think about how heavy the lens would be or that I would need a tripod to get a decent shot. Carrying around a tripod is a different way of thinking to me and requires much more planning than my usual routine of just grabbing a camera and shooting whatever.

So, here’s the one shot I have so far that was decent enough to post:

I’m super excited to spend more time playing with my new lens! Get ready for more close-up shots of frogs and birds and whatever other wildlife I can find. Right now, I’m determined to get a shot of the pheasant that lives out in the prairie. The crazy thing is like a siren, calling out to me night and day, but I never ever see it! I’m also hoping to get some shots of the owls that hang out in the tree by us, and can’t wait for the hummingbirds to get back here after the winter migration.

I was a wee bit excited this morning and did run out to try to get some photos as the sun was coming up. Happy Saturday!